Splitting or skiving machine.



C. H. BAYLEY.

SPLITTING OR SKIVING MACHINE.

APPLIOATION FILED JUNE 2. 190e.

1,100,470, Patented June 16, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHBET 1.

C. H. BAYLEY.

SPLITTING 0R SKIVING MACHINE. APPLIGATION FILED JUNEZ, 1908.

1,100,470, n x Patented June 16, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

W/T/VESSES UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES H. BAYLEY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T0 UNITED SHOE MACHINERY COMPANY, 0F PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW v JERSEY.

SPLITTING OR SKIVING MACHINE.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented June 16, 1914.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES H. BAYLEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, in the county of SuEolk and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Splitting or Skiving Machines, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to improvements in machines for treating stock and is shown as embodied in a machine which is especially adapted for splitting or skiving thin pieces of leather, felt or similar material in a direct-ion substantially parallel to the surface thereof. Hitherto the only machines adapted to perform this work have been equipped either with a stationary knife against which the stock to be split was forced, or with a continuous band knife traveling over rollers and against which the stock was forced for the splitting operation. The disadvantages of a stationary knife are obvious. In splitting such thin.

and flimsy material as is used in many arts, such as the manufacture of pocket-books, labels, etc., it is necessary that the knife move laterally as the stock is fed thereto in order to produce a drawing cut. This drawing cut it is of course utterly impossible to produce with a stationary knife and such a knife is incapable of suitably treating stock such as above referred to. The disadvantages of the band knife are found chiefly in the necessity of employing a very large roll over which the knife is passed, and of applying great power to keep the band taut. It is found in machines employing this form of knife that the knife must be passed over large rolls so as to be bent in a curve having a large radius, as otherwise the life of the knife is very short as the metal soon crystallizes and the knife breaks. This difficulty can be avoided by making a knife of soft material but in such cases it grows dull very rapidly and must be constantly re-ground. In machines of this kindwhich employ a knife composed of a continuous strip Vof steel, great power must be constantly applied in order to hold the knife taut to the degree necessary to out stock properly. For the reasons above noted, it is necessary that machines employing a band knife be constructed very large and heavy, thereby greatly increasing their cost and the floor space taken up by them and making it impossible for the small manufacturer to afford to employ them.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a machine which shall avoid the vobjections above indicated as inherent in the band knife machine and which at the same time shall be able to skive flimsy or soft stock evenly. This object is accomplished by providing the machine with a working member or knife which is noncontinuous and to which the'stock is fed by any suitable means, the arrangement preferably being such that the work treating member or knife is caused to traverse operatively the forward edge of the stock to produce a drawing cut.

In the particular embodiment of this invention which is illustrated in the drawings and hereinafter described, the cutting means is formed by a plurality of knife blades each of which is mounted upon one of the links of a chain by which it is carried in position properly to split the stock. This insures a drawing out on the stock as the chain is moved and at the same time overcomes the objection hitherto urged against the band knife, namely, the necessity for a large roll and great power to hold the knife taut.

Considered in another aspect, an impor tant feature of the present invention consists in the provision of means for splitting stock, said means moving for its entire course in the plane of the stock being cut. With the band knife great difficulty has been foundv in carrying the knife past the necks vofthe `feeding rolls, such knives of necessity being mounted in a plane at substantially right angles tothe plane of the stock being fed thereto. With this construction it 'was necessary for the knife to pass the necks 0f the rolls and at the same time for the cutting edge thereof to cut well in between the rolls so as to engage the stock as soon as possible after it left the point where it was gripped bythe rolls. This difiiculty has been met in machines of this class heretofore by increasing the length of the band knife and carrying it between and parallel t0 the feed rolls s0 as to engage the stock as desired and then out past both the bearings for the said rollers, the rollers for the belt being located beyond the bearings for the feed rolls. This, of course, resulted in greatly increasing the size ofthe machine. lt is found, however, that 1t is possible with the form of chain knife referred to above to mount the knife so that it will move for its entire course in the plane of the stock being fed, which obviates the necessity of carrying the knife past the necks of the rolls and at the same time renders it possible to mount the sprockets about which the chain runs within the limits defined by the bearings for the feed rolls, thereby greatly lessening the size and weight of the machine.

Referring to the accompanying drawings which show a preferred form of my invention,-Figure 1 is an end elevation of the machine selected for illustration; Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view upon an enlarged scale, taken on line .t2-m2 of Fig. l, and Fig. 3 is a vertical section on line S--a of Fig. 2.

The machine as shown comprises end standards 2 supporting an actuating shaft 4 which is driven by power applied thereto in any ordinary manner. The end standards 2 also support an upper feeding and gage roll v6 mounted on shaft 10, said shaft being driven by gear wheel 14 which is mounted thereon and engages with a gear wheel mounted on shaft 4 through the medium of an intermediate pinion 16. End standards 2 also support a lower feeding roll 8, mounted on shaft 12, said shaft being driven by a gear wheel 18 which is mounted thereon and engages a gear wheel 20 mounted on shaft 4. The feed roll 6 is mounted so as to be adjustable in any well-known manner, as for instance through the medium of cams 22 mounted at each .end of a shaft 24 supported on the end standards 2 of the machine and adapted to be turned by a hand wheel 26, said cams engaging the heads 28 of adjustable screws mounted in blocks 30 which are slidable in the ways 32 formed on the end standards 2 of the machine. Said blocks 30 serve as bearings for shaft l0 and are pressed upwardly as by spring 31 to a position determined by the contact of cams 22 and the heads of adjustable screws 28. By turning shaft 24 by means of hand wheel 26 the position of blocks 30 will be adjusted by means of cam 22 and screw 28 and the position of feed roll 6 raised or lowered accordingly. The bearing blocks 27 for the shaft 12 on which feeding roll 8 is mounted are also slidable in the ways 82 and are held yieldingly toward upper roll 6 as by means of an arm 9` controlled by a hand wheel 38.

The feeding rolls are adapted to feed the stock to a cutting knife 34. This knife may be described as a chain knife and comprises a plurality of separate blades 36 each adjustably mounted on a link 3S by means of a set screw 35 passing through a slot 37 in each blade 36 and securing said blade to its link 3S. Links 38 are so constructed as to ferm a sprocket chain when joined together and this sprocket chain runs on wheels 40 mounted on shafts 42. On said shafts are also mounted bevel gears 44 which engage with gears 46 mounted on a shaft 4S which is actu ated from the driving shaft 4 of the machine by means of chain 50 engaging a sprocket wheel mounted on driving shaft 4 and passing over a sprocket wheel mounted on a shaft 52. On shaft 52 is also mounted a second sprocket wheel actuating a second sprocket chain 54 which passes over sprocket wheel 56 mounted on shaft 48. On said shaft 52 is also mounted by means of rods 58 a sprocket tightening device 60 which engages sprocket chain 54. Tightening means are also provided for the knife in the form of an adjusting screw 62 engaging the bearings for one of the shafts 42. This provides for tightening the cutting knife, should it become loose from wear.

A table 64 is provided which, as seen in Fig. 3, supports the cutting edge of knives 36 in position closely adjacent to the point where the stock being fed is gripped by the rolls. Said table is concaved to afford clearance for the split material between the table and the lower feeding roll S and is shaped as shown for the purpose of also providing a support for knife-carrying links 38. Said table also carries guides 66 for the knives, said guides being so mounted as to be adjustable toward or away from the feeding rolls by means of set screws 68 passing through slots 70 formed in said guides and engaging the table 64 and adjusting screws 74 threaded through lugs 76 formed on supporting table 64 and bearing upon said guide 66. These guides 66 lit closely up against the rear side of links 3S as seen in Fig. 2 and serve to support the knives 36 against yielding back away from the feeding rolls while said knives are splitting the stock. Table 64 is so mounted on the frame of the machine as to be adjustable back and forth by a screw 72.

ln operation the feed rolls 6 and 8 are driven by means of actuating shaft 4 so as to both act to feed the stock toward knife 34 which is at the same time driven to cut the stock. This provides for acting upon the stock with a drawing cut as the stock is forced upon the knives, while at the same time the knives move for their entire course in the plane in which the stock is fed thereto. While feeding the stock, as above indicated, feed roll 6 acts as a gage to determine the thickness to which the stock is split and may be adjusted to cause the machine to split the stock to different thicknesses by means of hand wheel 26 and cams 22 acting upon adjusting screws 28 and Slidable bearing blocks 30. The feed roll 8 acts to press the stock rmly in contact with the gage roll as it is acted upon by the knife and is yieldable away from the gage roll to accommodate different thicknesses of stock. As the stock is fed between the two feeding rolls it is gripped tightly between them and is forced upon the knife 34 which extends in between said rolls and is actuated from the driving shaft 4 to exert a drawing cut upon the stock. It will be noted that with this construction the knife acts upon the entire forward edge of the stock and also moves for its entire course in the plane in which the stock is being fed thereto, thus avoiding the necessity of causing the knife to cross the necksof the rolls.

I-Iaving described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a machine of the class described, the combination of means for feeding stock such as leather, and particularly exible sheets of leather, presenting forwardly an extended portion of said stock for treatment, of an articulated knife for splitting said stock as it is fed, said knife traversing recurrently substantially the entire extent of said forward portion, and moving for its entire course in the plane of the stock being fed.

2. In a machine of the class described, the combination of rolls for feeding stock such as leather, and particularly iexible sheets of leather, presenting forwardly an extended portion of said stock for treatment; bearings for said rolls, of an articulated splitting knife traveling for its entire course in the path of the stock being fed, and conined within lateral limits deiined by said bearings.

3. In a machine of the class described, the combination of non-continuous stock splitting means, means for feeding thereto flexible stock to be treated, and means acting upon said splitting means to cause it to move for its whole course in the plane in which it acts upon the stock fed thereto.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES II. BAYLEY.

Witnesses:

ARTHUR L. RUSSELL, ELIZABETH C. COUPE.

Copies ot this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patenti,

Washington, D. C. 

